Retain and Attract Educators
- Minimum Salary:
- Certified Staff: Demand a minimum salary of $66,000 for all certified staff, include salary adjustments to address pay compression, and provide compensation incentives for rural area educators.
- Education Support Professionals (classified staff): Demand compensation and benefits that reflect a minimum starting salary of $18 per hour and include salary adjustments to address pay compression.
- Health Insurance: Secure affordable, quality healthcare coverage for all public school employees and families.
- Pension: Protect and sustain the ASRS defined benefit pension plan for public school employees.
- Mentoring: Establish a funding weight for school districts to implement a robust mentoring program that supports new educators in the first three years of the profession.
- Educator Preparation and Professional Development: Promote a statewide systemic approach to quality teaching and learning including highly effective educator preparation, programs and certification and professional development programs.
- Respect: Respect and trust educators as professionals:
- Empower educators to work collectively to determine a curriculum that ensures accurate and honest education
- Ensure the safety of educators and students
- Promote mental health and social-emotional learning for educators and students
Ensure School Funding Policies Are Equitable
- Restore Full-Day Kindergarten: Fully restore state funding for full-day kindergarten.
- Pre-K: Provide state funding to access matching federal dollars for preschool programs.
- Tribal Student Weight: Increase the funding weight for schools that serve indigenous students and students in tribal areas.
- Junior High School Weight: Establish a new funding weight for grades 6-8, recognizing those grades require additional resources and supplies to prepare students for high school.
- Special Education, Opportunity Weight and Inflation Adjustments for District Additional Assistance: Protect and sustain the existing funding weight for special education, the opportunity weight for schools that serve the most under-served areas and annual inflation adjustments for District Additional Assistance.
- Private School Vouchers and Tax Credits: Take immediate action to prevent the Arizona Legislature from diverting revenue away from public schools through private school vouchers and tax credits (for instance, empowerment scholarship accounts and student tuition organizations).
Resources for Students to be Future Ready
- School Counselors and Social Workers: Provide adequate funding for school counselors and social workers based on current research recommendations.
- CTE: Provide career and technical education (CTE) funding to assist students in preparing to enter the workforce by restoring 9th grade CTE program funding and implementing CTE program opportunities in 7th and 8th grade.
- Culturally Relevant Education: Defend against legislation that eliminates bilingual education or culturally relevant programs.
